That is, hell in its most literal form. Full of burning flames, crumbling rock, screaming souls, what have you. Now imagine there’s a cliff that hangs precariously over this madness, just low enough so you can see and imagine what can happen to you if you’re so unlucky to trip and fall over.
Writing this article makes me feel like I’m standing on the edge of that cliff.
Hyperbole aside, there are good reasons why people tend to shy away from talking, much less writing, about religion. Probably the most sensitive subject on the planet, one slight misstep in this article will offend somebody out there.
So I beseech you, dear reader, to read the following with an open mind like never before, and hopefully this article will do something for you.
This point forward, I will criticizing many. And I’m going to split my criticism for two groups: fellow theists, and atheists, starting with the former (but I hope atheists will read it too, and vice versa).
TO THEISTS
I’m a Roman Catholic. I’m not a very good one; far from it, in fact. My faith has also been challenged more often than I tend to reveal, and I’ve done things that can ruin me should people find out. Yet I’m still here.
But you know what? I don’t boast to the whole world about it. Sure, my faith asks that I ‘share the Good News’, but I don’t force it down other people’s throat. I don’t go around telling people how thankful I am to be one of the ‘chosen ones’, nor do I condemn others for sinning because ‘God wouldn’t like that’.
I’ve experienced quite a bit of religious fanaticism while being back in Malaysia - naturally, being a nation with a large Muslim majority, issues arise, and the country’s secular identity is thrown about and questioned. But that was that; being minorities, people from other religions were simply quite normal. We didn’t talk about our religions that much, nor did we try to push above our weight, so to speak.
Being in Singapore for over a year, where the breakdown of religious mind share is much more varied (and that’s even before bringing atheism into the question), and reading up much more about religious activity worldwide, the sad truth is that people from all religions do this. They unconsciously bring their respective faiths into discussion when discussing issues, which to me is fine, but for some reason, simply because they are speaking from their own religion’s perspective, they expect to be right.
Sorry, but no.
Do you know how stupid you sound when you do that? You create this tone of righteousness, this air of superiority, that puts off everyone around you, theist or not. Who are you to say what God thinks is right? All you succeed in doing is creating this bubble for yourself which imagines that your religion is the only one that exists on this Earth. This same group of people are often the ones who defiantly proclaim that ‘religion doesn’t need to keep up with the times’. Forgetting the fact that most religions actually do adapt in accordance with the times, I actually agree to a certain extent. It is irrelevant whether religion ‘keeps up with the times’; what needs to happen is YOU need to tone down a lot more and learn moderation.
Now, I know the majority of people from most faiths don’t do this. What we are seeing is once again the phenomena of the vocal minority. But do take note that it is often the vocal minority that ruins the image of the silent majority. And while I’m a believer of free speech and all, I also wonder that if we, as community, can’t spread the concepts of love and moderation among our members, how do we expect do spread and attract anyone else at all?
Another bone I’d like to pick with theists is our focus.
Recall for a moment, if you will, about some of the most hotly-debated topics that are in some way related to religion today. Gay marriage? Abortion? Censorship? You get the idea.
My view of this can be summed up in a single word: Why?
Really, why? Religion, and faith in general, revolves around a few things. While it can vary, it often relates to 1) bringing oneself closer to God, and/or whatever spiritual force of said faith, and 2) spreading goodwill among society, among other things. When you look at the above issues from this context, do they not look sad and petty to you?
There are millions upon millions of people around the world that in desperate need of help, whether monetary, emotionally, etc. Our societies are ripping themselves inside out due to internal conflicts and hate-spewing among (again) vocal minorities. And we’re arguing among ourselves whether gay marriage should be allowed?
I mean, I get it. Issues like these hit a nerve in us as they question the very essence of what we believe in...or so we think. The more likely truth is that these issues are easy bait. Easy for the media, particularly, to rile up people, and like it or not, we all have an urge to fight within us. They also distract us from having us to face bigger questions, such as: why do we believe what we believe in? What is the whole purpose in this journey of ours, if any at all?
If we can’t fix ourselves, we can’t hope to fix anyone else.
TO ATHEISTS
I have quite a number of atheist friends. By reading many ‘Western-originated/orientated’ websites, I’ve also had the chance to interact with several atheists online. Many are fine, normal people; if you’re lucky, you’ll also meet some of the best intellectuals among them, whom you’ll be able to discuss about virtually anything in life for hours upon hours on end.
There are some atheists, though, which I have major, major issues with.
If you are an atheist reading this, I would like to ask you to rate yourself honestly according to the following:
Yes = 3, Sometimes = 2, No = 1
a) Do I advertise myself as an atheist nearly everywhere? 1 2 3
b) Do I think less of theists because their beliefs are, quite simply, stupid? 1 2 3
c) Do I find myself debating/arguing often with theists? 1 2 3
d) Do I enjoy reading/following social media pages that criticise theists? 1 2 3
Now, it is tempting to imagine oneself as level-headed and tolerant, but I do ask you to be honest with yourself in answering the above.
4-6: We should be friends.
7-8: You’re probably normal.
9-12: I may have a problem with you.
As you’ve probably observed by now, I advocate moderation, especially interacting with others. That’s why it’s so disappointing to see atheists to not be immune from the sort of fanaticism they so often criticise.
I think it’s fine to be grounded in your belief. Issues like this one, especially, that touch on the very core of your personal values, your life, your existence even. And it’s fine to voice those views just like everyone else can.
But just as I hate religious people acting up and preaching as if everybody is expected to acknowledged that they are correct, I get extremely annoyed by atheists who find a need to voice out everywhere about how right they are and how everyone else (particularly Christians apparently, for reasons I do not understand), is plain WRONG.
I especially take issue with this sort of atheists because of how hypocritical it is for them to do it. As I’ve mentioned earlier, they’re the ones often complaining about how religious persons talk too much, to put it plainly; yet they see no wrong in yelling their views every chance they get. It is annoying, alright? I really don’t care who’s right or wrong, or even if there must be such thing as ‘right and wrong’ in this case. It is, and remains, very very annoying.
This same type of atheists seem to have a very narrow-minded view about theists. In their eyes, a theist is someone who 1) is Christian (don’t ask why, they just seem to particularly like to bash this group) 2) is extremely conservative 3) is close-minded 4) has low IQ 5) never tries to think for him/herself.
I get extremely pissed by this. I consider myself an intellectual (I’m not the smartest guy around but I do value intelligent discourse); I am very much NOT a conservative; I almost never think according to any hive mind; yet, I’m still a Catholic. Mind blowing, eh?
It’s a question that has fascinated myself, to be honest.
True, theoretically speaking, I shouldn’t be a theist. I question too much: I wonder about the probability of God’s existence. I contend the positions my church and its members sometimes take. I ponder the meanings, if any at all, behind the journey that I and so many others take in participating in the faith.
Why am I still a theist? The truth is, I couldn’t tell you. The whole reason I still hold on to my faith is simply due to the unexplainable. And I don’t mean grand, miracle-level unexplainable - I mean little, personal things. Sometimes - in fact, quite often - I would be ready to denounce God, and declare how, if He did exist, what a worthless existence it was. Sooner or later though, out of absolute nowhere, whatever problems were holding me down and causing me grief in the first place would, quite miraculously, vanish. Problems that initially seemed quite impossible to solve or run away from. If they were rare occurrences, I would put them down as anomalies; but they’re not.
Am I saying that I stay with my faith in hope of good things happening? No, on the contrary; I stay because I’m trying to find answers, and because however hard I try to shy away, there remains a voice inside me that tells me that something exists beyond what I see and rationalise. And that something awaits me at the end.
Whether you agree with these views or not, what I’m trying to say is that the trap atheists can fall in is regarding us all one and the same. Religion is, after all, organised faith; and as with all organisations, there exist differing views. It’s all about interpretation. I certainly don’t agree with everything that the leaders of my religion say; heck, they themselves don’t always agree. But does that mean I should just pack and leave? No; once again, same like any other organisation. You don’t necessarily leave because you have one or two disagreements with the leaders (I mean, you could, but it’s entirely up to your tolerance).
But it’s easy bait, isn’t it? Treating us all as the same, that is. It makes us easy targets to bash and blame. An atheist redditor once put it very well: Atheists, he said, like followers of most organisations, start out hungry and evangelical. They want to prove to the whole world that they’re right. As time passes, most of them grow and mature, and start favouring quiet discourse to passionate rhetoric. Some don’t, though, and so you get sites like /r/atheism on Reddit, Atheism on Facebook, etc etc.
I guess it’s understandable in a sense that atheism, at its core, is a protest movement of the theist majority that the world has turned out to be. Condoning and criticising what they’re protesting against is therefore to be expected. The problem is, eventually the criticism becomes no better than mindless, ritual-like bashing. Like a hive mind, even; the type that atheists usually state their dislike for (it’s often present in religion).
TO CONCLUDE
If you reread this article, you’d realise that my criticism for both groups is actually rather similar, although worded differently:
1) How superior we act, and
2) How petty we are.
I’m calling for tolerance. I’m asking that people everywhere, regardless of belief, to realise that there isn’t the need to act all “kiasu” and superior; that it isn’t so important to determine who’s right and wrong. That there is absolutely no need to find reasons to hate and be antagonistic to one another simply due to differences in our core beliefs. If, (to theists) we are truly loving and caring, or (to atheists) we should be better and act intellectually, we should naturally see that fighting each other is pointless and (again) really, really petty.
A similarity that theists and atheists share that is too often glanced over is that we are both seeking the truth. We might sometimes think the other silly for the path that they’re inclined to, but in the end we both want answers. We both want to know how things work. We both want to determine how things exist. We both want confirmation that there is a spiritual force at work, or otherwise.
More importantly, we’re all humans. And if there was no other reason to stop fighting, this is it.
Words by Terence Wang
Picture editing by Siangling Tan
Pictures credited to:
1) tommydavis.files.wordpress.com
2) www.biography.com
3) episcopaldigitalnetwork.com
4) scenery-wallpapers.com
5) www.glsc.org
6) www.digitaltrends.com
7) www.wikimedia.org
8) www.sangye.it
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